


Teenage Troublemaker - Not so sneaky

by LostGirl27



Series: Little Troublemaker [5]
Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Daddy Logan, Family Bonding, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Lots of fluff and kisses, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mommy Rory, Non-Consensual Spanking, Non-Sexual Spanking, Parental Discipline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:48:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27245236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostGirl27/pseuds/LostGirl27
Summary: I know, I know... I've still got to finish the other story, but I didn't want to withhold my latest 'flash of wit' from you.Milo Elias Robin Huntzberger: 17 yearsLori Emily Ryanne Huntzberger: (almost) 9 yearsLucas Eric Richard Huntzberger: (almost) 9 years*** If parental discipline in the form of spanking isn't your cup of tea, don't read it. I DO NOT condone child abuse or using spanking on children in real life, it's just entirely fictional and part of my stories. ***
Relationships: Logan Huntzberger/Original Character(s), Logan Huntzberger/Original Female Character(s), Rory Gilmore/Logan Huntzberger
Series: Little Troublemaker [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/325976
Comments: 11
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Lori’s POV**

“Lori! Lucas! Where are you?” Daddy called and I could hear his footsteps nearing our current hiding spot. “There are a few things we need to discuss, I think…”

“Quick! Dad’s already searching for us!” I whispered furiously, nudging my brother’s shoulder rather roughly, causing him to look back at me accusingly. He didn’t keep that look for long, though, his self-preservation kicking in.

“Let’s go in there!” he whispered back, already at Milo’s door and opening it. Normally, I wouldn’t even consider going in there since my older brother had made it very clear that he wasn’t really fond of us just barging into his room, but well. Today was an emergency.

“Ah! What? No. Wait a sec, Lori and Lucas just came in here” Milo complained while talking to someone on his mobile phone, eyes wide and his expression turning sour as soon as he took in our presence. He put one hand on the bottom part of his phone and glared at both Lucas and me.

“Don’t you guys ever knock?” he asked, getting up from his small sofa and walking towards us. “What do you want? I’m busy.”

“Sorry” Lucas said before I could. “It’s just… we need to hide in here, because Dad is angry with us.”

“Why? What did you do?” Milo asked, his tone immediately turning more sympathetic. He gestured towards his bed. “Wait, what? Sorry, Ry, I need to help the tads out. Call ya back later. Yeah, bye” he said into his phone, then pocketed it and quickly went to his door, quietly opening it and peering outside.

“I’m not a tad” I told him, crossing my arms in front of my chest. Milo just rolled his eyes.

“Well, the coast is clear” he then said smiling and I sighed, feeling relieved. Lucas did too and then plopped himself onto Milo’s bed. “But I guess Dad already knows you two are in here. He’s probably just giving himself a little time to cool off before he comes and fetches you.”

“Can’t we just stay in here with you? Like, forever?” I asked hopefully, going over to his bed as well and taking a seat. “You can protect us, Milo, right?”

Lucas threw me an accusing glare at that. “It’s your fault, you know! It was your idea all along!” he grouched, but before I could retort anything, Milo closed his door again and came over, squatting down before his bed and gazing at us curiously.

“What’s happened anyway? What did you do to piss him off?” he asked. “By the way, I wouldn’t be so sure about the last part, Lori. Not if you two did something really stupid. Trying to ‘protect’ you two as you call it, would only result in me landing in hot water myself and I really would like to avoid that.”

Both Lucas and I groaned loudly at that and Milo laughed.

“I wanted to do something fun” I began when my big brother continued looking at us expectantly and Lucas seemingly didn’t want to say anything. “So I thought it would be cool if Lucas and I tried out Daddy’s doctor’s kit… uh, but only for pretend! We just wanted to look at it, honestly!”

“Oh no, Lori…” Milo instantly exclaimed, smacking his forehead with the palm of his right hand. “What were you thinking? You know how Dad gets when one of us sneaks into his holy temple and touches his stuff.”

He then looked over to Lucas and said: “And you, Lu, can’t you remember the story of how I got in trouble with Dad when I did the same? I told you all about it the last time you went into his office on your own and he got mad at you.”

“Yeah, but… I – uh, I didn’t think he would find out this time” Lucas blurted out and blushed.

“Okay, so you went into his office… Did he catch you in there?” Milo asked and I shook my head sadly, shooting Lucas a glare.

“We were looking at Dad’s kit and his instruments when Lucas suddenly let go of one of its handles and all the… you know, the little bottles fell out and one of them broke on the floor.”

“You pulled at the other handle! It wasn’t my fault!” Lucas cried indignantly at that and Milo just mouthed “shit”.

Ignoring my twin, I said: “We quickly tried to mop the stuff up and put the glass pieces away, but Daddy was already on his way to his office, so we ran away and left some of it there. I guess he’s already found out, because he was yellin’ for us…”

“Well, guys, I won’t lie to you… that’s not good” Milo stated, shaking his head and getting to his feet again. He walked back to the sofa and got his mobile phone out of the pocket, casually going through his Facebook.

“Do you think… do you think Daddy is really mad?” Lucas asked, stressing the word ‘really’ and with his voice almost a whisper. Milo shrugged. “Probably. You’ll know soon enough.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at Lucas. “Duh!” Even though we were both born at the exact same minute, he sometimes behaved a lot younger than me. Or at least I felt that way, most of the time.

“Shut up, you stupid… It’s all your fault, like I said! I didn’t even want to go looking for his doctor’s kit, but you…” Lucas rambled, leaning towards me and shoving me.

“Tads, give it a rest, would you? You can hide here as long as you want, but stop fighting” Milo lazily called from his spot on the couch, but Lucas and I had already gone into fighting mode. I gave him a shove of my own, only to have him punch me lightly on my upper arm.

“Hey! Get off, you stupid…” I never got to the choice word I’d had in mind, because Milo’s door suddenly opened and revealed our very unamused looking father standing there.

“I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you, little miss” he said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the door frame.

“Hi, Daddy” Lucas and I greeted in unison and I didn’t even need to look at my twin brother, I already knew that he had the exact same apologetic grin on his face as I did. It didn’t do us any good, though – I bet at almost 9 years old, we still looked kinda cute sometimes, but it almost never helped us out with either one of our parents when we found ourselves in trouble. Unlike other adults in our circle of friends and acquaintances, our parents were mostly immune to our charms. Using the Mommy or Daddy card almost never helped our cases either when we had mucked things up, so I didn’t even know why Lucas and I spontaneously tried it every single time.

“Hey, Dad” Milo threw over his shoulder, still looking into his phone and seemingly more than happy to NOT be in our Dad’s firing line for once.

“Greetings, dear kids of mine… Fancy seeing you all here” Dad greeted dryly, eyeing both Lucas and me sternly. “I have to say, it kind of makes me jealous that I’m the only one that’s not been invited to this special gathering…”

Before he could say more, Milo got up from the couch and made his way over to Dad, looking at him seriously. “Dad, you look a little… well, miffed” he commented, making Dad laugh a little, but not in a funny way.

“I do? I wonder how that came to be” he answered, sounding casual. I really hated how calm he always sounded when he was angry. “Maybe your brother and sister have an explanation for that…?” He shot Lucas and me another meaningful look and then gave his undivided attention to Milo, waiting for him to speak more.

“Yeah, well, I know what happened to the flacon in your office, and…” Milo started cautiously, making Dad sigh. He didn’t stop Milo’s tale, though and just kept looking at him. “… and, yeah, they both messed up, I know. They shouldn’t have gone into your office to have a look at your medical stuff, but they didn’t mean to break anything. It was an accident, Dad. I mean, come on… accidents happen, don’t they?”

The last part he spoke in a funny tone and clapped Daddy on his right shoulder. I gulped when I saw Dad’s eyes getting darker. He looked at his shoulder and to the spot Milo had touched and then back at Milo, eyes like slits and lips in a firm line.

He didn’t need do say anything, he just kept staring at our older brother until Milo, all confident and proud at first, suddenly looked away hastily and mumbled: “Um… Sorry.”

“It’s fine, junior” I heard Dad say because I just couldn’t look at him any longer and had locked my eyes onto the foot board of Milo’s bed instead. At Dad’s use of one of his latest nicknames for Milo I knew that he was in the clear – at least he was, if not Lucas and I.

I quickly looked up again and saw how Dad had put one of his hands on Milo’s shoulder and was giving him a small smile.

“It’s very nice of you to put in a good word for your siblings, Milo” Daddy told him before looking over at me and Lucas again. “I’m sure they appreciate it very much, don’t you, guys?”

“Yeah, thanks, Milo” Lucas and I mumbled together and both Milo and Daddy laughed at that.

“Stop it with the twin talk, you two, that’s just unnerving” Milo complained, smiling broadly and getting back to his former place on his sofa, his hand already reaching for his mobile phone once more. He sure was happy that Dad hadn’t gotten angry with him.

Before Lucas or I could protest about Milo’s remark, though, Dad seemed to have enough of this discussion and sighed once more before running a hand through his short hair and folding his arms over his chest again.

“Well, my two favourite defiant scamps, even though your brother does have a point, I’m still not very happy with what you did and would like to hear an explanation from you. Let’s go and have ourselves a merry talk in my office, shall we? We’ll leave Milo to his homework, as I’m sure he was just about to start with it” Daddy then said, giving our brother a wink. Milo only groaned and clearly wanted to say something, but when he saw Daddy raising an eyebrow at him, he just showed him the thumbs up.

“Good man” Dad said. “Up with you two, we have many things to discuss.”

Since it hadn’t really sounded like a suggestion, though, Lucas and I got up from Milo’s bed and slowly walked over to where Dad had already gone and taken a stand by Milo’s open door.

He held the door open with one arm and ushered us both out of Milo’s room. I went first, which spared me the light tap to the bum Dad handed out to Lucas when he passed him by.

Lucas didn’t even complain like he normally would. He just hung his head and together, we walked downstairs and into Daddy’s home office.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beware: A little bit of attitude in here as well as mention of spanking, but no actual swats.

**Logan’s POV**

As soon as I had opened the door to my office for them, they practically stormed past me and scrambled over to the old two-seater couch I was still keeping in there.

Most of the time, I just used it to place my doctor’s kit or medical books that were simply too big to be put on top of the desk when opened on it – I almost never sat there. Sometimes, one of the kids would come and keep me company with their homework in my office, but normally, they would then sit at the same massive desk I was occupying.

On rare occasions, when one or more of my children had gotten themselves in trouble, I sometimes decided to move the talk down here – especially when it had been the twins that had gotten into trouble together. That was easier than choosing one of their rooms and giving one of them some sort of home advantage; at least I felt that way.

I took my time to walk into the room and close the door behind me before going over to my desk and grabbing one of the two chairs in front of it to place it before the couch. Lori and Lucas watched every move I made and I couldn’t help but feel a slight pang to my heart when I saw that a little bit of fear was written over both their young faces. I didn’t let my facial expression give away how I felt, though, since I wanted to hear their explanation of what had happened in here earlier. After that, I could still decide that a little less tough love was in order.

Instead of taking a seat on the chair, I walked over to where I had found the broken flacon and the doctor’s kit earlier and I took the pieces of glass with me to show it to them, then I placed the items on the small coffee table beside the couch. Neither of the kids seemed to be very keen on talking first, so I took it upon myself to get the conversation started.

“Well, here we are” I commented, finally taking a seat on the chair and gazing at my twins who avoided looking at me directly at all costs. I smiled briefly. Typical, for all of them, but it really wouldn’t do. I could feel my temper flaring a little and needed to force myself to remain calm. I had already decided to give them both quite the stern talking-to, though. I waited for another few seconds, but when no reaction came from either Lori or Lucas, I’d had enough.

“Oh, come on, you two, I know you’d rather be doing something else than sitting here and getting read the riot act, but from where I am sitting, you really crossed a few lines here today. Because when I got in here, I found my doctor’s kit on the floor and that flacon here broken. The desk drawers had clearly been opened as well and someone has had a look through the shelves where I keep the stethoscope and otoscope, because I found both devices to be not in the same spots as I have left them. And since it’s obvious that you two rascals are behind all of that, the only question that remains is… what were you thinking going in here and rummaging through my medical equipment? You both know that my office is off limits, unless I’m in here with you.”

I kept my eyes firmly on both of them while I lectured – both Lori and Lucas remained with their heads downcast still. I sighed openly.

“Could you please look at me, so I don’t get the feeling that I’m only talking to hear my own voice?” I scolded mildly, crossing my arms over my chest and waiting for them to look up at me, which both did simultaneously and as if it had been a sharp command.

I couldn’t help but smile at them. “Thank you. Now, who wants to explain what you were doing in here and why?”

Lucas was the first to shoot first his sister, then me a mournful look, so I settled on him.

“Well, son, spill the beans already” I told him, not unkindly. “The deed is done and you’ve been caught. Time to give me the hard facts.”

“Uh… I-I.. no, we, uh. I mean, Lori and I just… uhm…” he stammered, slightly panicky, while glancing nervously at Lori, who suddenly looked a lot more confident than minutes before.

I didn’t pay it any mind and kept watching my young son, looking him directly in the eyes and cocking my head to the side a little.

“You were bored and curious” I stated after letting him mumble for another minute or so and both little faces snapped up once more, one guilty-looking and one frowning. Lori was glaring openly at me, but I chose to let it slide for the time being and to see where the conversation was headed.

“Look, I get it. I was young once, too…” I started, only to be interrupted by Lori, who suddenly grouched: “Oh, just shut up! I don’t get what’s so special about your stupid office and medical stuff! We just wanted to look at it, we didn’t do anything wrong!”

I concentrated solely on her now, raising both my eyebrows and giving her a meaningful stare while Lucas hissed “Lori! Are you nuts?”

“You just wanted to look at it, you didn’t do anything wrong” I repeated, ignoring Lucas’ comment and giving into the urge to smile a little. It wasn’t a warm or comical smile in the least, though. Quite the opposite really, as I was trying hard not to lose my patience. Lori on the other hand had obviously come to her senses again and was now sporting a shocked expression that almost made me laugh. Well, almost.

Lori recovered quite quickly from her initial shock, though and started frowning again as soon as I went on: “You see, I’m starting to think that you kids have a problem with the basic principles of privacy. Neither of you had any business being inside my office and going through my personal things, as I have told you several times not to do it. So, no, I’m most certainly not going to shut up about it.”

I stopped there and made a pause for effect, regarding both Lucas and Lori sternly.

“I’m sorry, Daddy” Lucas mumbled, elbowing his sister in the ribs to which she only pressed her lips together tightly and shook her head.

“Thank you, son, but I’m afraid I’m going to need a little more than that. Explain to me what went on in here” I prodded, hating myself a little for how stern I sounded and for making my little boy even more uncomfortable. He was shifting around nervously, trying hard to find the right words while I was watching him with an odd mixture of satisfaction and sadness.

Lori, on the other hand, kept her eyes downcast and her arms crossed over her chest stubbornly. I decided then and there that I would just focus on Lucas first and deal with her later, as soon as I had him sorted out. There was still a chance that she would join in on Lucas’ explanation and probably even see for herself that she’d been pushing her luck with me a little too far today. Or not.

“That’s bull” she murmured under her breath, even before Lucas was able to form his first sentence.

Again, Lucas stared at his sister, shocked, while I leaned forward in my seat. I reached out my right hand, forcing her chin up with my forefinger and getting her to look me directly in the eyes. I cleared my throat purposely, satisfied once more when I saw some worry in her eyes.

“What was that? I didn’t quite catch that, I’m afraid” I drawled, raising a single eyebrow. “Care to repeat it for me?”

I let go of her and watched how she slowly shook her head in the negative. Just like I thought.

“Careful, now” I advised, narrowing my eyes slightly. “You’re on very thin ice.”

Lucas chose that exact moment to speak up again and offer an explanation for the whole fiasco – I groaned inwardly, having had other plans that probably involved scolding a certain little girl until her head was spinning. I was willing to let him do some talking, though, since he’d been brave enough to be honest with me.

“Lori and I were doing our homework in the living room, like Mommy told us to do before she went shopping with Auntie Lane and Mika. When we were done, we wanted to play a board game but the game where you pretend to be a doctor and get stuff out of a patient is still broken… I mean, the little lamp won’t blink when you hit the wrong spot, you know?” he explained, glancing at me and waiting until I nodded and motioned for him to continue.

He sighed deeply, gave Lori another sideway-glance and said: “So when we saw that the game was broken, Lori suggested we could play a different kind of doctor’s game, where our stuffed toys are the patients and we treat them to get well again. We used some band aids from the closet in the hall and a spoon to give them medicine” he paused when I frowned and hastily added: “… only for pretend, I swear! We didn’t use any medicine from the cupboard, Dad!”

I nodded and watched Lori for a moment to see if she had anything she wanted to add, but she’d gone back to scowling at the floor in front of her.

“Go on, please” I told him.

“So… Um” Lucas mumbled, eyeing his sister once again and breathing in heavily.

“We used water as medicine, but Lori said it wasn’t doing any good, because no one who was sick would really get well again just from drinking water. I asked her what we should give our patients instead and she… uh. I mean, she didn’t really mean to, but um…”

My eyes darted back to my daughter who was now glaring at her brother.

“Traitor” she hissed. Lucas winced slightly and I glared right back at her.

“Lorelai” I warned, the anger evident in my tone. She only huffed but thankfully clamped her mouth shut, so Lucas continued.

“Lori said we should go and have a look at the stuff in your office, because… because you _are_ a real doctor and have the _real_ stuff. But Daddy, she… um, I mean, we… we just wanted to have a quick look and see what the e-e-e-qu…”

“Equipment” I stated, still with a hard edge to my voice.

“Equipment, yes. We just wanted to see what it looked like and pretend to use it so we could treat our patients better. We didn’t mean to break anything, honest! It just happened.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and groaned, burying my face in both my hands, before rubbing my sore eyes for a moment with my knuckles. When I was done, I eyed the two kids in front of me again.

“What am I going to do with you?” I asked, sighing and trying hard to come up with a suitable solution while leaning back slightly and shuffling uncomfortably on my chair.

The last time Lucas had broken my rule about going into my office and wanting to touch my medical equipment, I’d warned him not to test me on that specific topic again. And I knew that Milo had told him how I had dealt with him breaking the rule about goofing around with my doctor’s kit when he’d been seven years old. The difference between Milo’s escapade back then and Lucas’ and Lori’s escapade now was that Milo had purposely taken a syringe and hidden it in his room to ‘treat’ his best friend Ryan who came over that afternoon and who had been complaining about a tummy ache after too many sweets. If I hadn’t found the syringe in time, Ryan would doubtlessly have been injured by Milo, who didn’t have the slightest idea how to use a shot and what had been in the syringe in the first place. Thinking back to the incident that had taken place almost ten years ago, I felt a pang to my heart and my stomach clenching together almost painfully. It had been an awful afternoon, indeed. I’d spanked Milo on his bare bottom fourteen times (not counting the warning smack I’d doled out when he’d refused to confess his crime at first), making it the worst and also harshest punishment I’d given my son up to that point.

Now, Lucas was looking at me with wide puppy-eyes, playing with the hem of his shirt. The moment I opened my mouth to speak again, Lori sighed both dramatically and irritably.

It was then that I decided that I _really_ was done with her outbursts.

“That’s it, my patience with you has run out” I informed her with a hard stare. “You were nothing but disrespectful the past half hour and I’m done giving you chances to calm yourself down and giving you warning signals. If you insist on acting like a brat, you sure will get treated like one.”

She glared right back at me and shrugged, a small, goading smile on her lips.

“Lucas, go to your room, please” I ordered, my eyes never leaving Lori’s. Lucas gave a small whimper but – thank God – obeyed immediately and quickly scrambled up. Before he could run out of my office, I grabbed him by his arm and pulled him close, being careful not to grab on too tightly.

“No Gameboy, no TV. I’ll be up later to talk to you.”

He nodded hesitantly.

“You stay in your room and don’t leave it except for the bathroom, young man. If I have to come and search for you…” I didn’t end the sentence. Judging from Lucas’ wide-eyed look he was giving me, I really didn’t need to.

“Yes, sir. I’ll stay there” he mumbled sadly and it took me a lot not to cuddle him to me, as I was already regretting the harsh command directed towards him.

“Good boy. Go” I said when he shot his sister one last look and seemed uncertain for a second. I turned him into the direction of the door and gave him a gentle push to get him to move. He quickly left the room, closing the door behind him.

“Come here” I then told Lori, my voice booking no room for argument. I sat up straighter and crooked my finger at her, then pointed to the spot directly in front of me.

Her eyes darted from me to the door and back again, clearly having nothing but an opportunity to flee in mind. I shook my head slightly.

“Whatever is going on in that clever head of yours, I’m strongly recommending that you decide against it. If I have to come after you, your little bum won’t like the consequences. Considering the fact that you and your brother have already earned yourself a sore bottom, you would do well to mind me now, little girl. Daddy’s not joking around here.”

I regarded her closely. She was, quite obviously, still debating whether she should make a dash for it or not. I decided to up the ante.

“One. Just for your information, Miss Huntzberger, if I get to the count of three and you’ve not obeyed still, I’ll start to add on swats and you’ll lose your jeans and undies” I threatened while praying to the high heavens that I wouldn’t have to follow through with either threat, not to mention the earlier one where I hadn’t even gotten into any specifics on what I’d do if she chose to… run. It all happened so fast – in one swift motion, she’d jumped up from the sofa and made a beeline for the door, opened it and ran outside, her footsteps already fading.

“Lorelai Emily Ryanne Huntzberger, get back here at once!” I hollered after her, jumping to my feet and being only too aware of my voice sounding like a mixture of a growl and a snarl.

In the distance, I could hear another door opening rather forcefully and being pushed closed with a loud thud. So she’s in her room, I thought to myself, or probably hiding away in her en suite bathroom, door locked. Just great.

“Son of a bitch” I cursed, thoroughly frustrated.

Taking a few big gulps of air and letting them out of my nose again in rather loud breaths, I forced myself to calm done a little.

Then, I left my office and briskly made my way up to my daughter’s room, not really caring how angry I still was. That little girl’s backside was toast.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Compared to the other chapters, this one is a little heavier on the spanking, I guess. Seems as if Lori really has pushed her father a little too far this time. So please, if it really isn't your thing - don't read!

**Lori’s POV**

Alright, I’ll admit it. That _might_ have been a little stupid of me. Or dumb. But… God, that man really liked to hear himself talk!

Why did he have to be such a jerk about all of that? Lu and I already knew that we’d messed up. No need to rub it in more and make us talk about it for the millionth time. And didn’t I already tell him that I was sorry about what had happened? I did… right? Or didn’t I? To be honest, I couldn’t remember much of the stupid talk downstairs, only that I’d gotten angrier with every dumb word that Dad had spoken. He really was a jerk sometimes.

Sighing unhappily, I sank to the floor of my small bathroom and felt tears prickling behind my eyes. What a great big pile of fuckin’ shit. Despite the situation, I snickered a little at those words that were now rolling around in my head. Both my parents weren’t the biggest fans of us children swearing and Milo sometimes sparked discussions about _decent words to describe his feelings_ , so I suddenly found it hilarious and even wished I had used it downstairs while talking to Dad, just to irk him some more.

The snicker died on my lips, though, as soon as I heard a knock on my bedroom door. It must have been quite the angry and loud knock, because I could hear it clearly even through to my bathroom.

I kept silent, of course. A moment later, I heard footsteps inside my room and a hand taking the doorknob to the bathroom, trying to turn it.

“Locking the door, hmm? I must admit, I admire your spunk” I heard Dad say through the door, his voice deeper than usual. My heartrate went straight up and I could feel a shiver going through me.

“Open that door, little girl. _Now._ ”

“No” I answered, angry at myself that I sounded nervous. “You’re mad at me.”

“Damn straight, I’m angry. But you worked really hard downstairs to get me to be as angry as I’m now” he retorted. “Open the door, Lorelai.”

I gulped. That must have been the first time that Dad had admitted to being angry at one of us – at least I never heard him say that to me or my siblings before. Normally, he’d only say that he was disappointed in our actions if we’d messed up.

“But… you don’t get angry” I protested, shocked.

There was silence behind the bathroom door and a moment later, I heard Dad giving a harsh sigh.

“I’m done playing games. You open that door now, or I’ll take it off its hinges and open it forcefully. If you make me do that, the first thing I’ll do when I get to you is spank you. Neither you nor I want that to happen, so… _Open. That. Door._ ” Since the bathroom door consisted of a rather thin wooden material and I'd seen Daddy taking Lucas' bathroom door off its hinges once because he'd locked it accidentally, I didn't doubt his ability to do that for one second.

“But, Daddy” I pleaded. “You’re scaring me.” As soon as the words were out, I knew that it had been the truth, not just something I’d blurted out to get myself out of the firing line.

There was another sigh from Dad, but this time, it didn’t sound as harsh and angry as it had only moments before.

“ _Please_ , open the door” he then said, sounding tired and disappointed. “Don’t make this any worse on yourself now, young lady.”

I waited another few seconds, but seeing no other options and not daring to refuse Daddy’s request any longer, I finally got up from my spot on the bathroom floor and carefully opened the door.

I nearly broke down in tears when it revealed my Dad, still looking sternly at me and leaning against the doorframe.

I nearly expected him to follow through with his threat anyway, but he didn’t. Instead, he reached out a hand for me and gave me a pointed look.

Tentatively, I took it and let him lead me out of the bathroom and into my room, where he gestured towards my bed. Without hesitation, I sat down on it and waited for him to speak or do something.

He stood there a moment, regarding me with his dark, serious eyes and I gulped once more, looking away.

Then, he slowly walked over to my bedroom door and closed it shut.

“You’ve really outdone yourself today” he scolded, his voice low. “And I’m not only talking about going into my office and messing around with my equipment. I’m talking about your blatant disobedience and defiance downstairs, whilst our talk.”

Not knowing what I was supposed to answer to that, I shrugged. I then watched how he stood there, briefly considering if he should join me on the bed or take my desk chair to sit on.

Sighing, he decided to sit on the bed, too. “Honestly, Lori… What’s gotten into you?” he asked angrily after another moment or two.

I chose to not look at him at that and although I knew that he really expected an answer, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. Instead, I just shrugged again.

My shrugging was met by a snort and after that, a lot of uncomfortable silence, so I risked another glance at my Dad – oh, what a big mistake that was. The look he was giving me was as stern as ever, making my stomach flip.

“You know what?” he then said, closing his eyes briefly and opening them again to glare at me. “I’m not in the mood for talking yet, either. I’m going to take care of something else first.”

With that, he suddenly leaned over to me, easily lifted me off from where I was sitting and then draped me over his lap, facedown.

“Daddy, don’t! Stop it!” I all but squealed, whimpering when I felt him tugging down my jeans and underwear rather roughly. “What are you doing? I wanna keep those on!”

“I think we can agree that running away from me works just as good as letting me count to three. Either way, you’re losing your pants and underwear” he remarked humourlessly before placing one strong, muscular arm around my waist and pulling me closer to him. Then, he raised his other hand and started smacking my naked behind, making me yelp.

Shutting my eyes and mouth tightly, I willed myself not to cry. Daddy only spanked me two more times before that plan went straight out the window. I honestly don’t know why I found it so horrible this time. It wasn’t as if he was spanking me any harder than he’d done in the past, but today I just couldn’t help myself and struggled against him with all my might. Maybe it was because he hadn’t really talked to me beforehand or maybe it was because we both were still quite angry with one another… it didn’t matter to me, though. I just wanted him to stop.

“Ouch! Daddy, no!” I complained loudly, trying hard to get up and off my father’s lap when I realised that he wasn’t going to let up.

“Oh, yes, little girl” he countered, landing a particular unpleasant smack to my bottom. “We’re not done here. Now stop struggling!”

“No!” I yelled, only struggling harder and kicking my legs, making my Dad stop shortly and try to adjust me on his knees. I used that exact moment to kick my legs again, even harder this time and trying to use my knees as well – and this time, my left knee met something, or rather… someone, rather forcefully. Dad swore under his breath and I froze. Shit. I’d kneed him! What the hell was wrong with me? Did I have a death wish?

Before I could even process what was happening, Daddy had picked me up, stood and placed me beside him on the mattress on my back. For a second, I wondered if he’d decided that my spanking was over, but the next moment, he was lifting my legs up as if he was changing a toddler’s diapers.

I was shocked, to say the least. What a humiliating position to be in!

One single look at his face confirmed that he was quite displeased with me still, but I didn’t have the chance to contemplate that any further, because he’d already placed himself beside me, half kneeling on the mattress and half standing, and was raising his free hand again, smacking me sharply.

I started struggling once more, but one determined, furious look of him was enough to silence me and make me stop in my tracks.

“Stop kicking, or we’ll repeat this lovely _discussion_ again before bedtime” Daddy threatened, his voice thick with disappointment. I grabbed onto two fistfuls of my comforter, closed my eyes and waited for this whole nightmare to be over. Sure enough, once he’d doled out another five smacks, making it a total of ten since starting the spanking, he was done and placed my legs back down on top of my bed. I whimpered when I felt my warm bum connect with the top of my comforter. He gave a small sigh and reached for my jeans and undies that were huddled around my feet, as if I had just used the toilette and forgotten to pull them up.

“May I help you with these?” Daddy asked softly and hesitated until I gave a curt nod.

Without looking him in the face, I lifted my lower half up slightly so Dad could pull my underwear and jeans up again. Then, he discretely stepped away and I sighed, relieved. I reached for the fly of my jeans and snapped it shut.

Quite a few tears had escaped my eyes and I was suddenly aware of how damp my cheeks were. I sat up, furiously rubbing at my eyes and my cheeks, trying hard to ignore the unpleasant tingle in my backside that had only intensified once it was covered again in clothes.

Dad cleared his throat softly, walking over to my bedside table and fishing for a handkerchief inside the top drawer.

Once Daddy had found one, he came back over to me.

“Here, take this” he offered gently, squatting down to be on eye level with me.

Without so much as a look at him, I took the offered item and used it to blow my nose. Then I felt Daddy taking a seat beside me.

“I’m sorry I had to do that, peanut” he murmured, sounding very close to tears himself and I quickly looked up at him, shocked to have my suspicion confirmed. Sure enough, his eyes were rather red and I could even see a single tear that was leaking from his left eye.

I didn’t respond, but didn’t pull away either when he tried to wrap me in a warm embrace. Kissing the top of my head a couple of times, he just held me close. In a matter of seconds, I was sobbing loudly into his chest, not even hearing what exactly Daddy was whispering into my ear. I didn’t care anyhow. It just felt nice to have him hugging me and rubbing my back. I could feel the ugly feeling of humiliation and anger melting away, leaving only relief when I did hear him say: “… don’t worry, love, it’s all going to be okay. It’s all over now and you’re forgiven, of course.”

His voice was low and thick with tears and I could even hear his breath hitching. His hand kept up the gentle rubbing until I’d finally stopped crying.

“Lori?”

I shook my head when he tried to push me back a little so he could look at me, but I didn’t fight it.

“Baby, are you okay?” he asked worriedly, placing one hand on my cheek and cupping it gently.

I nodded and even managed to offer a small smile. My head was aching, my bottom still tingled a bit and when I thought back to the embarrassing situation of lying on my back and getting my butt spanked in _that_ position, my face turned beet red.

“That was awful, Daddy” I choked out, my voice hoarse from all the crying.

“It was” he agreed. “Believe me, I didn’t enjoy it any more than you did.”

“Easy for you to say. You didn’t get smacked” I grumbled as he released me with one last kiss to my cheek and let me off his lap. I rubbed at my backside pointedly, ignoring Dad’s knowing look and smile he was directing at me.

I actually expected him to scold me for it, but he didn’t. Instead, he chuckled before turning serious again.

“While I’m sorry that it had to be such a harsh punishment, I have to say that you’ve earned it two times over. The way you behaved today… it was…”

“Stupid, I know” I interrupted him with a pout.

“I had a different word in mind, more along the lines of ‘snotty’, but well… yeah” Dad commented dryly, standing up from the bed. I frowned.

“Back when we were downstairs, did you really think that I would let you get away with all those sarcastic comments and eye-rolling and dramatic sighing?” he asked while raising a challenging eyebrow at me, making me blush yet again.

“No, not really” I admitted. “I just… I dunno, I was angry. I didn’t feel like talking.”

“It sure seemed so” he sighed and shook his head. Another few moments of silence passed until he declared: “I really need to go and talk to your brother now, as I’m sure…”

“Yeah, right. Of course you’ll talk” I mumbled sarcastically. This time, Dad turned around fully at my snarky remark and gave me a pointed look, crossing his arms.

“That’s exactly what I meant. Where is all that attitude coming from?” he asked, eyeing me sternly.

I only shrugged and sent him an apologetic look.

He stared at me for a few seconds longer, then shook his head yet again.

“Honestly, you’re nine years old, it’s not even time for you to act as if you were Milo’s age. If your current attitude is any indication for the way you’ll act later, you and I are going to have quite a few _discussions_ about respect throughout your teenage years” Dad half-heartedly scolded, reaching up and running a hand through his short blonde hair that was slowly greying.

“Sorry” I muttered glumly. “I didn’t mean it like that, I… I…”

“I know. You can’t help it sometimes” Daddy said, uncrossing his arms and walking back over to me, giving me another brief hug. “But try and keep it to a minimum. After three kids, I only have so many bundles of nerve fibre left” he nearly pleaded, showing up his thumb and forefinger and placing them together, leaving only a tiny space between them. “And quite actually, it’s just a friendly advice on my part, because there’s just no way in hell that I’ll ever let you behave in such a way and let you get away with it, neither will your Mom.”

I sighed and nodded.

“Could you please give me a verbal answer this time?” he prodded and I refrained from groaning, which earned me a small, almost proud smile from him.

“Yes, Daddy, I understand. I’ll try and be good.”

“That’s my girl” Daddy said, the pride now more evident in his voice. “Now, I really need to go to Lucas. He’ll wonder where I am and what’s taking me so long. We might come back to your room later so we can finish where we left off downstairs, alright?”

“Okay, Dad. I want to stay in here anyway” I told him, blushing once more.

He made to leave again, but just before he arrived at the door, he turned around, a frown on his face.

“Daddy?” I asked, surprised.

“Did I… were you really scared of me?”

I blinked, not having anticipated such a question.

“You know, when you were hiding in your bathroom. Before you opened the door, you told me that you’re scared of me” he said, almost sounding desperate. “Are you? Scared of me, I mean…?”

I nodded hesitantly, not knowing what I should say to that but also wanting to be honest. My Dad’s face fell. Now I understood.

I quickly jumped off the bed and ran over to my father, hugging him around his middle.

“I’m not scared of you, Daddy. I mean, I was… but not of you, really” I spluttered, trying hard to find the right words. “I was scared because I knew you’d probably… erm, spank me. I don’t like it when you do that, it’s embarrassing.”

I felt him hugging me back gently. I looked up and directly into his dark, loving eyes.

“But I know why you did it. I shouldn’t have acted like that… I’m sorry” I said sheepishly. “And I’m sorry I kicked you, Dad.”

“I’m glad, peanut” Daddy murmured, dropping yet another kiss onto my forehead. “I’d never want you to have a reason to be afraid of me, even when you’re in trouble with me. I’m sorry I made you feel that way. Next time, I’ll try and calm down first before talking to you or punishing you, I promise.”

“Okay” I mumbled.

“And again, I accept your apology” he said, smiling. “You’ve got quite the hard kick there, though. I’m not sure I feel comfortable with you wanting to do karate, coming to think of it. Don’t you want to give kid’s yoga or rhythmic gymnastics another try instead?”

I gave him a cheeky grin and shook my head as he winked at me and then left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ** Spanking in this chapter **

**Logan’s POV**

Making my way to my youngest son’s room, I could feel some of my earlier disappointment and anger resurfacing. It had not been all too long ago since I had told Lucas that he could expect a smarting behind if he wandered into my office again to go looking for my medical equipment. I had a feeling that today’s mischief was more initiated by Lori than by him, but that didn’t change the fact that he had disobeyed me, too. Compared to his sister, he had behaved himself during our earlier talk, at least. So what should I do? Could I let him off the hook?

“Damn it, Lucas” I cursed in thought, coming to a halt right in front of his bedroom door and stopping to take a deep breath. “What _am_ I going to do with you, you little…?”

Before I was able to finish my trail of thoughts or knock, the door opened just a crack and I looked down and straight into two sad, dark orbs that shone behind his golden fringe.

I couldn’t help but give a small knowing smile.

“Well, hello, little one” I greeted, bending down slightly and watching his face through the crack – at least the small part of it that I could see.

Hesitantly, he opened his door further and I was surprised to see the sad look turning into a fierce scowl.

“I was about to come looking for you” he explained heatedly as I made a move to open the door completely to step inside. He let go of the handle and watched as I entered, crossing his slender arms in front of his chest and glaring at me. “You were taking forever! And I was… I am…”

“You’re nervous, I’m sure” I offered, closing his door behind me and taking a seat on his bed. I then gave him a sincere smile. “I’m sorry for making you wait for so long, Lucas. That wasn’t my intention.”

“But, where were you? I waited and waited and…” he grumbled, then trailed off.

“I needed to talk to your sister first” I told him, letting just a touch of sternness seep into my voice. “Now that that’s done, I’m here to have a talk with you. And since you seem so eager to do that, let’s start, shall we?”

As soon as realisation hit him, Lucas dropped his arms to his side and his face turned from mulish to a wide-eyed puppy-look.

“I, uh, it’s okay, Daddy” he muttered, offering me a toothy grin which I immediately returned. “We don’t really have to. You can go and talk to Lori some more, if you want. I’ll just…”

“Come here, young man” I cut off his rambling by crooking a finger at him and patting the spot beside me on his bed. “We’ll go to Lori’s room when we’re done here and finish our talk together. But first, I’d like you to sit with me, please.”

He hesitated, looking warily at me and biting his lip.

“Lucas, come on, buddy, don’t make me tell you again” I said. “I just want to talk.”

“You’re not going to… to…?” he asked, eyes suddenly even wider than before. I shook my head and heaved yet another sigh.

“No. I’m not going to just start spanking you for what happened earlier” I told him sincerely. “You know what? I won’t punish you at all – not until we’ve had the chance to talk calmly and discuss things. Then, and only then, will we talk about your punishment and it will be one that you can agree with.”

I watched him as I spoke and smiled when he nodded and started to shuffle over to me.

“But” I added warningly, “If you choose to either run away from me before we’re done, start to have an attitude or give me the feeling that you’re being dishonest, you will lose the opportunity to have a say in your punishment. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir” Lucas mumbled, dropping his eyes to the floor. My heart clenched at the formal way he addressed me and I reached out, gently grasping his right hand and tugging a little to get him to come closer to me.

“It’s Dad, smarty. You don’t have to call me sir.”

He gave me a very small, tentative smile and nodded again, then he took a seat beside me on his bed.

“So… you already told me what happened and how you both broke the flacon by accident” I began gently. “Now, I believe your sister took it upon herself to distract our earlier talk.”

Lucas nodded at my dry comment and I could see that his face broke into a smirk.

“Is there anything else you would like to add to what happened in my office?”

He gave me a sideways glance before turning away from me again.

“No, Daddy. That’s all. Lori and I wanted to pretend we’re doctor’s and when we looked at your stuff, the flacon fell out of your kit and broke. I’m sorry…”

“So you were rummaging through the kit and it just fell out? Somehow, I have a hard time believing that” I answered, reaching out and gently cupping Lucas’ chin, turning it slightly so I was able to look him in the eyes. He briefly looked at me before concentrating his eyes on my chest, not wanting to meet my eyes.

“Lucas Huntzberger” I warned, making his eyes snap up again and arching an eyebrow at him. “What did I _just_ tell you about being honest with me?”

When he didn’t answer and only shrugged, I glared at him.

“You really don’t want to test my patience right now, little boy. I asked you a question and you’ve about 30 seconds to give me an honest answer or you won’t like what happens, I can guarantee you that.”

“Okay!” he suddenly grumbled, jerking away. I dropped my hand and simply looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

“We were kinda fighting over your kit, pulling at the handles and when Lori pulled a little too hard, I let go of the one I was holding… then the stuff fell out and one of the flacons broke.”

I didn’t say anything to that, having already had my own suspicions that were pretty close to what he just told me and just went on looking at him with what I hoped was a neutral expression. Argh! Kids! Why couldn’t they just behave and do as they’re told?

After another few seconds, I let out a deep breath that I hadn’t even realised I had been holding, making my son scrunching up his forehead in worry.

“Dad?”

“Hm?”

“Are you mad?” he asked worriedly and I shook my head slowly, wondering what the little boy was trying to decipher.

“Nah, not really” I replied, surprised how casual my voice sounded.

“Angry?” he prodded, the volume of his voice increasing. I gave him a smirk.

“Neither” I assured him, never losing my smirk. “Not at you, anyway. I was pretty angry at your sister and she can tell you all about the talk I’ve had with her earlier if she wants to, but right now, I’m not angry. I’m quite disappointed that you chose to invade my privacy and office, though. _Again._ ”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to, Daddy. Erm, I mean.. I didn’t mean to break anything” he mumbled, squirming around in his spot beside me.

“I know you didn’t” I replied gently, before turning stern. “But that’s what happened. You went into my office and looked through my medical equipment, something I clearly forbade you, and you and Lori ended up breaking a flacon that contained quite the expensive vaccine.”

I paused in my speech and watched my young son’s face as the words I just had spoken slowly sunk in. He blushed and licked his lips nervously.

“There was no need for that to happen. If you two had just listened to what I told you before, none of this would have happened.”

I watched his face closely and felt a pang of guilt at the look of remorse that now took over his features. Hanging his head in shame, he turned away from me and sniffed.

Deciding to speed things up a bit, I reached out and gently but firmly cupped his chin, turning him so that he couldn’t look anywhere else but at me.

“Lucas, I know you’re sorry and I appreciate your apologies, but since it isn’t the first time you broke the rule about going into my office and touching my doctor’s kit, you are going to be punished” I told him, ignoring the sinking feeling that was spreading inside of me.

His eyes had already filled with unshed tears and they were now starting to fall. I let go of his chin and used both my thumbs to gently brush away the few tears that were escaping.

“Since you managed to behave for our talk, I’ll stay true to my promise and let you choose between two options. The first one is to be grounded for a week, starting today. During that week, your world will revolve around school, homework and baseball, but you won’t be allowed to join your teammates for dinner at that pizza place after practice next Friday, since you’ll still be on restriction by then. You won’t be allowed to watch TV or play with your Nintendo either.”

At the mentioning of losing the opportunity to accompany his friends for dinner after baseball practice, Lucas almost burst into tears. I almost felt like crying myself, seeing how upset he’d gotten over this. But I knew that I had to stand firm.

“What’s the other option?” he asked feebly after a few moments.

“You’ll get a spanking, just like I promised you when you touched my medical equipment the last time” I answered slowly, making sure to sound as calm and collected as possible, even though a storm of emotions was raging inside of me.

He sighed rather pitifully.

“You mean….” he attempted to ask, but seemingly thought better of it and trailed off.

Taking both his hands into mine and rubbing them gently, I looked at him imploringly.

“Yes? I mean what?” I prodded. “You can ask me anything you want, son.”

“You mean… without my pants, right?” he whispered, blushing furiously.

I watched him closely as I thought my options over. It was true, I had promised him a spanking and he knew exactly how I’d dealt with Milo back then, but with all things considered, it really didn’t need to be a terrible one. He’d confessed almost immediately and he’d offered an honest explanation to what had happened. He’d behaved reasonably well while I’d talked to him – far better than Lori had, anyway – and it seemed as though the lesson had almost sunk in.

“You may keep your pants if you chose the second option” I decided, keeping a solemn look on my face. When his small face lit up a little, I added with as much sternness as I could muster: “But don’t think for a minute that I’ll hesitate to spank your bare bottom the next time you do something like that. Do you understand?”

Looking like a deer caught in the headlights, he gulped and nodded.

“Tell me, then. What’s your choice going to be?”

“Dad” he whined, looking at me with dark, miserable eyes. “I really don’t want to be grounded and… I want to be there when my team gets to have pizza!”

Raising an eyebrow, I regarded him silently for some seconds, then nodded. He didn’t have to say more. Without further comment, I reached over and gently pulled him off the bed, making him stand before me and between my knees. I could feel the tension and apprehension coming off him in waves, so I didn’t lecture any more.

“Is there anything else you would like to say or ask?” I asked nonetheless, waiting patiently for him to shake his head before guiding him over my lap. I couldn’t help but notice how his shoulder blades were tense and how a small whimper escaped his lips before I’d even started.

“You’re getting ten smacks, little one” I informed him calmly, feeling the need to tell him exactly what he could expect.

When nothing came from him in response – to be honest, I hadn’t expected him to say anything to that anyhow – I raised my hand and brought it down sharply on the upturned little bum. I only used moderate strength, not wanting to cause any real pain, of course; and since I couldn’t see the change in the colour of his skin, I paid special attention to how hard I smacked him. He yelped with every swat, though, indicating to me that it had its desired effect. After delivering the promised ten, I stopped and carefully placed my lightly tingling hand on his back, rubbing gently.

I could hear by his breathing that he was trying hard not to cry – more from pent up frustration and guilt than from being in pain, so I just kept on rubbing a little while longer, waiting for him to move up. When he didn’t, I murmured: “Smarty, how about we just sit here for a while and I hold you? Would you like that or would you rather stay in your room alone for a bit to calm down?”

Instead of an answer, I could hear some increased sniffling. I lifted him up and sat him on my lap so he was straddling my thighs, making sure that his bum didn’t get in contact with them. Before I was able to hug him, he’d leaned forward already and pressed his face into my chest, hugging me around my torso and clinging to me – just like he always did.

I just held him to me while rubbing his back and making reassuring noises in hopes of calming him down further.

“M’ sorry, Daddy” he mumbled into my chest after a while. When I felt some movement, I tilted my head and looked straight into his dark-brown eyes – eyes that were so much like my own. Cradling his head, I smiled at him warmly.

“I know you are, baby boy. You’re forgiven” I replied and he offered me a small smile of his own.

I planted several fond kisses right onto his head and heard him give a content sigh.

“I won’t go into your office no more” he promised and I smiled into his hair.

“You are more than welcome to come into my office when I’m there, too. Just don’t go in there when I’m not around, okay?”

I could feel him nodding enthusiastically. “Yes, Dad.”

“That’s my boy” I praised, feeling relief spread inside my chest and that awful feeling of dread of having to punish my little boy finally lift. “Thank you for taking your punishment so well. And, I’ve got to say, you really did a good job listening and talking to me earlier. I’m proud of you, Lu.”

Looking down, I grinned at the way he was beaming up at me at the praise.

“You’re proud? Even though I messed up?” he asked incredulously, his expression both happy and somewhat disbelieving.

I couldn’t help but laugh a little, to which his little forehead immediately wrinkled up.

“Aw, smarty” I cooed, using one of my thumbs to softly rub at those wrinkles on his forehead. “Of course I’m proud of you, I’m always proud of you – even if you do naughty things. Today, I’m especially proud of you, because you owned up to your mistakes and you didn’t defy me when I told you that you were about to be punished. That takes a lot of maturity.”

He was still looking up at me questioningly and suddenly bit his lip.

“Does that mean that you aren’t proud of Lori?” he then asked concernedly, but with just the slightest bit of satisfaction.

I gave him a warm smile, not wanting to show him that his question had caught me off guard a little.

“Of course I’m proud of her, too. I’m proud of all you guys. What makes you ask that?”

“’Cause… she didn’t own up to her ‘mstakes today, did she? Not really” he replied somewhat wryly, sounding more grown-up than just a moment ago. I contemplated that and allowed myself to think about it a minute. Sly little boy. You’re just too damn quick.

“Well, sometimes it takes a little more time and probably _persuasion_ to manage that” I explained pointedly. “Sometimes a person is just too angry and too caught up in their own ways to see reason. That happens.”

Lucas seemed to ponder on that for quite some time, until he finally nodded in acceptance.

“Can we go and see Lori now?” he suddenly asked, seemingly keen on changing the subject. I gave him yet another smile and ruffled his hair before letting him off my lap.

“That’s a great idea” I told him, standing up myself and nodding my head in the general direction of his bedroom door.

Together, we made our way out and over to Lori’s room, where my son took it upon himself to knock softly.

At Lori’s “Yeah, come in”, he quickly opened the door and I exhaled a sigh of relief when we found my little girl perched on top of her bed, casually leafing through one of her teen magazines.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing at all to worry about in this chapter - only fluff because I enjoy writing it so much.

**Lucas’ POV**

“May we come in, peanut?” Dad asked, sounding as cheerful as ever. It seemed as if the past hour hadn’t even happened and despite the light tingling of my butt, I couldn’t help but smile, too. It felt so nice to be on good terms with my Dad again. There was something soothing to it when he smiled at me like _that_ and when he was using one of his nicknames for me… it made me feel warm inside and, more importantly, at home. Just like when Mom hugged me or when both Mom and Dad tucked me in at night – even though I would sometimes argue that at almost nine years old, I didn’t need to be tucked in anymore. The first time I had told them that I was too old for that had been a few weeks before – they were both in my room at that time, with Mom sitting on the edge of my bed and Dad leaning against the doorframe. They had just told me good night and Mom was about to kiss me and tuck me in when I informed them of the matter. Both had smiled at me and Daddy had walked back over to my bed, had ruffled my hair and had told me that _he_ wasn’t too old to tuck me in yet and that he would be utterly grateful if I could find it in my heart to indulge him and Mom and stay their little boy for a little while longer.

I couldn’t help but smile at the memory and at the way Mom had nodded solemnly then, happily playing along with Dad’s antics.

“Sure” Lori was murmuring now, then closed her magazine and watched both Dad and me as we walked into her room and Dad immediately took a seat on the edge of her bed.

“Come on over here, buddy. I’m positive your sister won’t mind if two people rather than just one invaded her bed for a few minutes” Dad told me, winking at Lori.

Lori rolled her eyes but nodded and smiled, so I sat down on it as well.

“Right, so… where did we leave off?” Dad then asked, curling his lips and pretending to think hard while rubbing an imaginary moustache. Lori and I exchanged a brief smile, but before one of us could answer him, he continued: “Ah, I remember now. We were in the middle of discussing why it wasn’t such a good idea for either of you two to just go into my office and have a look through my equipment.”

I quickly looked away from him, feeling my cheeks and ear tips becoming hot and probably as red as Rudolph’s nose. I felt some movement on Lori’s mattress as she too shifted around nervously.

I heard Daddy sigh heavily before he spoke up once more: “Anyway… I think the moment for me to scold you some more has passed, so I’m going to leave it at that. You both were punished and as far as I’m concerned, we’re good.”

Both Lori’s and my eyes snapped up at our Dad in surprise, making him smile even more.

“The only thing I’d like to add to our earlier talk is the following: Do not invade my privacy again. And quite actually, that not only goes for _my_ office and things, I don’t want to catch you going through _anybody’s_ stuff that isn’t yours and without their permission ever again, do you hear?”

“Okay, Daddy” Lori responded solemnly, while I nodded and added a quick “Yes, Dad” when he narrowed his eyes at me slightly.

“I mean it, guys” he stressed, crossing his arms in front of his chest and giving us a serious look. “And in case you wondered why I don’t want to go ahead and just lock my office to keep you out of it… I’m not going to do that. In my opinion, you both are old enough to respect and obey that rule, so I’m going to hold you to it. You wouldn’t like it either if your mother and I just barged into your rooms and went through your things.”

Neither Lori nor I replied anything to that, because… well, what could we say to something like that? We knew Dad was right.

“Great to hear we’re on the same page” he said, still sounding very strict. “And I suppose I don’t have to tell you what will happen if we should ever have a similar discussion again, right?”

This time, he even accepted the eager shakes of our heads that came almost instantly.

Daddy sighed and I gave him a quick glance to check if he still looked as stern as before – he didn’t, however. He was looking at us with a small smirk and lots of amusement in his eyes. Finally, the butterflies in my tummy that had been flying around madly ever since the flacon in Dad's office broke, stilled and disappeared.

Before I even had the time to process what happened next, he made a grab for both my sister and I and began tickling us both.

“Nooooo! Stoooop! Please” I shrieked, laughing. I was rather ticklish, with my ribs and armpits being the weakest spots of them all – Daddy knew, of course. He knew both our most ticklish spots by heart, alternating between Lori and I until we both collapsed on her bed, panting and laughingly pleading for him to stop.

Dad laughed along with us, a grin dancing around his lips and eyes sparkling.

Finally, he stopped and laid back against Lori’s headboard, with Lori and me at his sides, draping an arm around our shoulders each. He planted one firm kiss first on Lori’s, then on my forehead and gave a dramatic sigh.

“You, my impish little ones, are going to give me even more grey hair… I suppose by my next birthday, I’ll look like Gandalf the Grey if you keep all that mischief up” he complained and hugged us a little tighter, making both my sister and I smile widely and snuggle a little closer to him. I laid my head on top of his chest and didn’t answer, more than content to just stay there and breathe in Daddy’s well-known scent.

Lori however, mumbled: “Your next birthday is only in a few weeks, Daddy. Can’t wait to see you with a long beard!”

That earned her a poke in the ribs and a short laugh from our father. “Little brat” he mock scolded. “I’ll turn you into a toad as soon as I have the magical abilities that come along with being Gandalf! Just mark my words!”

I snickered a little, imagining my sister hopping around as a toad full of warts and my Dad swinging around his magical staff, shouting random spells at us to get us to behave.

We all fell silent once more, just enjoying each other’s company and Lori and I particularly enjoying the feeling of Dad’s strong arms around us and having him joke with us again.

“Daddy?” Lori asked at some point, making both me and Dad glance at her – me from beside her and Dad from above.

“Yeah?”

“If I wanted to become a doctor like you, would I be allowed to look at your equipment?”

I rolled my eyes – that’s just typical for you, Lori. You always have to have the last word somehow, huh?

I felt Dad shift around a little before he finally responded with just the slightest edge to his tone: “Well, you are more than welcome to follow in my footsteps and become a doctor, if you really wanted that. However, that wouldn’t change how I feel about you going into my office and rummaging through my things, because even if you’re old and skilled enough to handle those, I still wouldn’t want you to touch or take them without asking.”

I didn’t say anything to that – honestly, why Lori still felt the need to have a discussion about all of that was beyond me. I found it perfectly reasonable for Daddy not wanting us to do that; especially ever since he asked us how we would feel if he did something similar with our stuff.

Lori sighed, but another glance at her revealed to me that she was nodding, making our Dad drop his stern tone once more as he added: “If you’re that interested in my equipment, we can have a look at it together at some point, though. Would you like that?”

“That would be cool! Yes, please” Lori replied excitedly.

“Me, too, Dad!” I found myself joining in, not wanting to be left out, even though I didn’t find Dad’s equipment half as interesting as Lori did apparently, not since the first time I had gone into his office to have a look at them.

Dad chuckled at that and gave us both a gentle squeeze.

“Alright, you two” he said with a small sigh. “We can do that sometime, but not today. You’ve both lost all looking-at-Dad’s-equipment-privileges for today.”

“Aww” Lori whined. “Not fair, Daddy! You’ve already spanked us! Isn’t that punishment enough?”

“Nope” Daddy replied grinning, popping the ‘p’ and shaking his head.

“Dad, that's stupid!” she grouched, wriggling out of his embrace and giving him a scowl. I almost groaned aloud.

“Feel free to take that tone with me some more, little girl. See where it gets you” Daddy invited, raising an eyebrow at her.

Miraculously, Lori sighed heavily and shook her head. “Sorry.”

He nodded and gave her another smirk, then loosened his hold on me as well.

Changing the subject and finally getting up from Lori’s bed, he suggested: “How about we go for a drive instead and get some ice cream? I’m sure Milo would enjoy that, too. And since your Mom will probably be having dinner in town with Auntie Lane and Mika, we can even watch a movie she wouldn’t approve of. What do you say, you scamps?”

“Yes!” both Lori and I cheered triumphantly, jumping up and down excitedly.

“Come on, let’s go then” Daddy smiled and ushered us both out of Lori’s room. “Junior! Front and center!” he hollered as soon as we passed Milo’s bedroom door, pounding at it playfully and looking back at us with a mischievous smile. It didn’t take our older brother more than five seconds to tear his door open and look at us as if we were mad.

“Dad, are you crazy? You almost gave me a heart attack, yelling and banging at my door like that!” Milo ranted, eyeing Daddy with light annoyance. Daddy just shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

“Well, glad to hear you didn’t have one” he replied easily and threw one arm around Milo’s shoulder. “I have decided that some ice cream is in order. What do you say about two or three scoops of that horrendous mint and chocolate you fancy so much?”

Milo rolled his eyes but nodded, making both Lori and I whoop loudly and already sprinting ahead and in the direction of our front hall to get our shoes on as quickly as possible.

“Glad to see the peace in our household restored once more” I heard Milo comment somewhat relieved and Dad giving a short laugh. We all rushed to put on our shoes and made our way out of the house.

“That’s because the twins saw reason in the end. Aaaaand I’m such a sucker for happy endings” Daddy responded sarcastically, already fiddling with his car keys until the car gave the distinct sound of unlocking its doors. “Aaaaand, of course, because I’m probably the best father in the world.”

“That you are, Dad, that you are” Milo replied without hesitation, getting into the passenger’s seat and buckling up.

Daddy got into the front seat and gave Lori and I a quick glance through the rear-view mirror – once he saw that we were both nodding at Milo’s statement, he gave his widest smile and started the car.

_The end – for now._


End file.
